Reduction in Hospitalization of Schizophrenics

During 1964 and 1965 schizophrenic patients treated with phenothiazines as clinic outpatients following hospitalization were studied at six-month intervals by means of a questionnaire. They were compared to a control group of schizophrenics who did not maintain contact with the clinic. The experimental group was rehospitalized significantly less often than the control group, and the decrease in the rate of rehospitalization has continued to the present. The authors believe that adequate and continuing follow-up should be provided for all discharged patients.